AE Symposium in NYC, April 6th – Building the Bridge between Neurology and Psychiatry

On Saturday, April 6, 2019, in New York City, the Foundation had the great pleasure and privilege to participate in the Symposium titled, Autoimmune Encephalitis: The Bridge between Neurology and Psychiatry, held at Weill-Cornell Medical College.

The program was jam-packed with presentations by some of the field’s pre-eminent specialists, including Dr. J. Dalmau and Dr. Arun Venkatesan as the keynote speakers.  Included were also some presentations by Caregivers and Survivors, as well as not-for-profit organizations, all of whom helped in the funding and organization of this event.

The Foundation was proud to enable a talented Neurology trainee from British Columbia, Canada, Dr. Christopher Uy, who was the winning recipient of the Travel award,to attend and learn from leading experts in the field.

It was the first time that four North American non-profits, namely The Hashimoto’s Encephalopathy SREAT Alliance (HESA), the Autoimmune Encephalitis Alliance (AEA), Encephalitis Global (EG) and the Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis Foundation (ANMDARE) had pooled their resources and skills to start the construction of this much needed bridge, targeting medical professionals and medical students and nurses.

We imagine teams of workers and architects, both medical and non-medical, laboring toward the common goal of a structure that will see no patient going misdiagnosed or undiagnosed. The abutments of our bridge, the specialties of Neurology and Psychiatry are already firmly planted, and the Symposium has taken a very concrete step in starting an unstoppable movement toward quicker diagnoses and treatments for all those in need.

The Foundation is grateful to HESA for spearheading this event (hopefully the first of many).